The bird is seen in murals around town and locals sometimes wear magpie costumes for Halloween. Elly Knight, an avian ecologist with the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, says that’s why it ...

Four female magpie shrikes escaped in July. Getty Images/iStockphoto The species has a designation of “least concern” on the organization’s list of endangered animals.

Female magpies will typically lay eggs in mid-August and the males will defend the nest while she sits on them for three weeks until they hatch.